Marley Like the Dog
by MithrilEvanesco
Summary: Marlene McKinnon is starting her last year of Hogwarts, along with her best friend, Lily Evans. Unfortunately this is the year when Lily finally gives in to James. Where will this leave their best friends, Marlene and Sirius? Will Marlene accept Sirius as a friend, or maybe more, only if he stops calling her that stupid name... Marley.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**A/N:** **I actually just wrote this in my statistics class because I was soooo bored! Enjoy :) aaand, Review!  
**

"Ohhhh Marley!" Came a loud call throughout the train corridor, it could be heard in a compartment where two girls were sitting.

"Here comes your knight in shining armor Marlene." The red head joked.

Marlene, or Marley, ground her teeth as she scowled at the compartment door, waiting for it to open.

Sure enough, she could hear the raucous footsteps, and then the door was flung open to reveal a tall boy with longish black hair and a joyous smile spread across his youthful face.

"Oh but Lily, where Black is, Potter is never far behind." Marlene teased scathingly. Then another dark haired boy entered the compartment; he had warm brown eyes behind his spectacles. Marlene watched her friend's face instant turn into a grimace.

"My sweet Lily-Flower. How was your summer?" The second boy, Potter, asked as he sat down rather close to the fuming Lily.

"James, mate, how come you can't tell; she's not into you." The first boy said as he threw his arm around Marlene, who pretended to vomit.

"Oi, look at Marlene! She's definitely not into you, Sirius!" James accused.

Sirius grinned casually at Marlene, "Aw but me and Marley have a special friendship. She thinks she hates me, but she secretly loves me. Right Marley?"

"My name is Marlene, not Marley. That is a dog name." Marlene pouted.

"Pfft, who says Marley is a dog name?" Sirius asked.

"It's a muggle book! It's called Marley and Me, and it's all about this couple who own the worst dog in the whole world, whose name is Marley." Marlene said stoutly.

"Hmmph, there's nothing wrong with having a dog name…" now it was Sirius's turn to pout.

The whole compartment laughed at this, Sirius was after all, named after the Dog Star, Sirius, the brightest star in the sky.

Marlene removed Sirius's arm from her shoulders as Lily stood up to leave. "Hey, where are you going?" demanded Marlene.

"Well, I am Head Girl, and there is a meeting now." Lily explained herself. James leapt to his feet to follow her, "Why are you following me?" Lily asked.

James began rummaging around in his pockets until he pulled out a shiny badge and pinned it to the front of his robes. It read, _Head Boy_. Lily gaped, "No, just, no." She wailed as James ran after her.

"Wait for me Lilykins, you can't start the meeting without the Head Boy!"

Sirius and Marlene burst out laughing as the compartment door slammed shut. Marlene shifted away from Sirius, suddenly aware of how alone and close they were. Sirius smirked at her.

"Well, I best go find the rest of the boys." He got up and stood by the door, and looked back at her. Marlene was sitting by the window looking lonely. Sirius sighed, "Would you like to join me?"

Marlene bounced up, grinning, "Why thank you, yes I would." She smiled cheekily at him. Sirius couldn't help but scowl as she lead the way out of the compartment.

After checking practically the whole train, Sirius and Marlene found the other two boys sitting in a compartment near the end of the train. Marlene smiled and greeted the two boys, "Hello Remus," She smiled at the one with sandy brown hair. "Hello Peter," She said to the pudgy boy. Both boys looked up and greeted her and Sirius. The boys began to discuss their summer, and their beginning of the year prank they always play, it was after all their last year at Hogwarts, so everything had to be spectacular.

While they did this, Marlene observed them carefully; at the moment, Sirius was leader because of James's absence, Sirius was talking animatedly while Remus and Peter watched. Remus watched Sirius's wild gestures with amusement, while Peter watched in awe. Marlene had always wondered how little Peter Pettigrew had found himself in the Marauder group. The other three boys were all very attractive, James had his charisma, which was contagious; Sirius had his dark bad-boyesque good looks; Remus had his sensitivity and smarts; but Peter, well he was not very smart, not very athletic, like James and Sirius, and he wasn't very attractive. Marlene figured that James and Remus pitied Peter, while Sirius just put up with him.

She knew this group, the Marauders, were famous at Hogwarts, they were popular, smart (save Peter), attractive (again, except Peter), and could play some wicked pranks. Marlene was suddenly brought out of her musings by a shake.

"Oi, Marley, want anything from the trolley?" Sirius asked pulling on her sleeve.

"Oh, yes. And it's Marlene, not Marley." She got up and asked for a pumpkin pasty and two licorice wands.

There was silence in the compartment as the four happily munched on their snacks, that is until James and Lily came pommeling through the door.

"Marlene! Lets go!" Lily snapped reaching for her friend's hand.

"Well, see you later boys," Marlene laughed as was wrenched out of the compartment.

Her grin fell when she heard Sirius call out: "Bye Marley!"

Oooo

"He's just so arrogant!" Lily ranted.

Marlene had heard it all before, Lily would go on for a little while longer, calling James names, like "toe-rag" and "prat" and "git" but Marlene was used to it by now. She just sighed and listened as Lily let it all out. Over the summer she had forgotten how much James riled Lily up, but Marlene thought Lily's ranting was different, it was slightly hysteric, like she was trying to convince herself that all those things she yelled about James were still true. Marlene knew that this year was going to have a lot in store.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**A/N: Well, here's chapter 2. This was actually the most random idea for a story, it just popped into my head in class one day so I wrote it down and now I need to finish it! Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it :) **

"Marlene, wake up! Marlene… MARLENE!" Marlene woke with a start when she heard Lily bellowing in her ear.

"Merlin, what time is it Lily?" She asked rubbing her eyes.

"Well, you missed breakfast. I brought you some toast and your schedule." Lily handed her a piece of parchment and two pieces of toast. Marlene read her schedule as she munched on the buttery toast. She had no idea what she would do without Lily.

"Hurry up Marlene!" Lily chided.

Sighing Marlene got out of bed and put on her uniform and robes, grabbed her book bag and headed off to the first class of the day, Potions.

Because Marlene woke up late, the girls were the last ones to enter the Potion's chamber. Both girls moaned when they spotted the only open seats, one next to James, and one next to Sirius; both grinning like idiots.

"Black, why can't you just move to sit with James?" Marlene asked vehemently.

"Because, Marley, he wants to sit with Lily. And I, being the good mate that I am, decided to take the seat behind him to sit with you." He grinned at her.

"It's Marlene." She growled.

"Pardon, sorry Marley I didn't hear you."

"I said; it's Marlene." She said a bit louder. She knew he was just trying to get a rise out of her.

"So sorry, love, did you say you 'it's Marley?' Because that's what I call you anyways." Sirius smirked when he saw how much he was getting under her skin. As he opened his mouth to say something else, Professor Slughorn entered the classroom. Sirius shut his mouth quickly, he may be a troublemaker, but it was first day of classes after all.

Oooo

Marlene had no idea how she made it through everyone one of her classes that day. She sat in the same proximity as Sirius in every class. By the time the week was up she was pretty sure she was going to be sent to Azkaban for murder.

"Sirius Black! Leave me alone!" She all but screamed at him as he badgered her about his Charms essay in the Gryffindor common room one night. She got up and hauled all her things to another vacant table. To her dismay he followed her.

"But Marley, I need help. I don't know the theory behind a Patronus Charm!" Sirius whined.

"Black, you can produce a Patronus, how can you not know the theory?" She rolled her eyes at his whining.

"I have no idea, I'm more of a doer than a thinker I suppose." He answered.

"For once, I think we agree on something." Marlene laughed. Sirius scowled.

Oooo

It was almost Christmas holidays, Marlene opted for staying at the castle, and Lily was staying as well. And to both their misfortune, James and Sirius were also staying. On the first day of the holidays Marlene and Lily were making their way down from the Gryffindor tower to the library to get a head start on their homework, when they were ambushed.

"Padfoot, I've got Lily!"

"Good! I've got Marley! Run Prongs run!"

Marlene had been pushed into a broom cupboard with the door slammed shut. She had just been able to glimpse James tugging a protesting Lily into a mysterious room, she hadn't remembered ever seeing that door there before.

She was brought out of thought by the cupboard door creaking open; Sirius Black's face peered into the blackness at her.

"Marley…" he ventured hesitantly, not sure if she was going to hit him or not.

"Black, why did I just get shoved into a broom cupboard?" She asked rationally.

"Well, James wanted a chance to talk to Lily alone. He really thinks he has a chance now, and he sort of set up a surprise for her. But we knew she would never agree to go with him, so we ambushed you guys," Sirius smirked, clearly proud of his and James's plan.

"Hmm, well I hope it works, Lily is getting so annoying. She can't decide if he's really changed and she likes this new James, or if he's just being a prat." Marlene laughed, surprising Sirius.

"Well, I'm in charge of you today, Marley." Sirius took her hand and began pulling her down the hallway.

"Wait where are we going?" She ignored the stupid nickname; she had accepted it a while ago, no amount of her protesting could get Black to stop.

"Hogsmeade." Sirius stated. Marlene looked at him dubiously, it wasn't a Hogsmeade weekend, and the school was under strict security because of the war raging outside of the school.

"Is that safe?" She inquired.

"Course, you'll be with me." Sirius smirked.

Marlene rolled her eyes and followed him.

Oooo

They arrived at the statue of the one-eyed witch and Sirius tapped it with his wand mumbling an incantation. They were then able to clamber into a tunnel through an opening.

"Where does this lead?" Marlene asked looking around warily.

"Honeydukes cellar." Sirius began trudging down the tunnel. Marlene followed him diligently.

They walked in silence, only slightly awkward, until Sirius suddenly stopped, and Marlene crashed into him. Scowling they two of them climbed up the trap door and found themselves in the Honeydukes cellar.

Sirius nicked a sugar quill and he walked up the stairs, he tossed a licorice wand at Marlene, who was not paying attention when a stick of licorice hit her square in the face.

"Sirius!" She complained.

"Shh." Sirius hushed her.

They nonchalantly walked into the store, joining the throng of customers, lucky for them it was a pretty busy day at Honeydukes.

"So, where should we start?" Sirius asked.

"The Three Broomsticks, I'm freezing!" Marlene chattered, she wasn't prepared to be outside, and the chilly December wind whipped around her. Sirius nodded agreeing with her, neither of them had on coats, just their uniforms and robes.

They grabbed a table for two, and waited for the barmaid to come take their order. Soon enough Madame Rosmerta came their way, "What can I get you?"

"Well, I think Marley and I will each have a butterbeer please." Sirius gave the barmaid a charming smile.

"Good try Sirius," She laughed as she walked away to grab their drinks.

After they had finished the drinks, and Sirius insisted on paying, the two headed out to brave the winter wind. They rushed along to the pet store; Marlene wanted to look at the owls. They walked inside and browsed the numerous owls that hung in cages from stands. Sirius suddenly yelped as a furry ball climbed up his leg and clung to his robes.

"Bloody hell," he cursed.

Marlene bent down and pried the fluff ball, which turned out to be a kitten, off of Sirius's leg. Cooing she stroked the kitten, which settled quickly in her arms. Sirius couldn't help the smile that crept across his face when he saw Marlene and the kitten.

"You should get the kitten, not an owl." He urged.

"But I have no need for a kitten, an owl is useful." Marlene argued, still cuddling the fluffy white and grey kitten.

Sirius rolled his eyes; he browsed some more while Marlene (still holding the kitten) looked at the owls.

Then there was an unexpected scream from outside the shop, abandoning everything Marlene and Sirius rushed outside. There they entered panic, death eaters, along with dementors, were swarming the streets, attacking innocent civilians.

"Run Marley, run!" Sirius yelled as he fired a hex at a masked figure. Instead Marlene spun around and pressed her back against Sirius's the two fought back-to-back for a short while until Sirius yelled at her, "We need to get back to school!" She nodded sharply. The two broke formation and began sprinting towards Honeydukes, but a dementor rose in front of them at the last minute.

Both of them raised their wands, "Expecto patronum!" a burst of silver left each wand tip, a large shaggy wolf-like dog rushed toward the dementor, followed by a smaller golden retriever. The patronus's ran off the dementor and Marlene pulled Sirius into Honeydukes, they rushed down the stairs and into the tunnel. They finally felt safe.

Marlene was trembling, "Are we safe here Sirius?"

It was the first time Sirius could remember her calling him by his first name, "Yeah, I don't think anyone knows about this passage." He took her hand and led her back to the castle.

All they could think of was how what in the world were the death eaters and dementors doing in Hogsmeade, the war must be faring far worse than they had thought.

As Marlene gripped Sirius's hand tightly she realized that they would be leaving Hogwarts soon, and they would be shoved into a world filled with war. This thought scared her, Marlene looked ahead at Sirius; he's face was blank, not showing any emotion. She sighed softly, she should really try to be nicer to him; the nickname Marley shouldn't be the only reason for her dislike of him. Marlene promised herself she would try to change, because when she left school, she would be needing all the friends she could get, including Sirius Black.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**A/N: Here's another chapter! Enjoy and Review :)**

Sirius emerged from the statue of the one-eyed witch pulling a shaky Marlene behind him.

"Listen, we can't tell anyone we were in Hogsmeade today, it'll raise to many questions and we weren't suppose to leave anyway." Sirius told her. She nodded and they began to walk towards the Gryffindor tower.

"Amysitus," Sirius said and the Fat Lady swung open to let the two into their common room. What they saw astounded them; Lily and James were wrapped up in each other snogging on the couch.

"Well I see our plan worked then?" Sirius smirked at the couple. Blushing the two untangled themselves from each other.

Marlene had her own smirk plastered across her face, if she hadn't just battled for her life against death eaters and dementors she would be a lot happier for her friend.

Lily was blushing furiously, "I guess he has changed…" She tried to explain herself but it was lost as Sirius burst out laughing. James just threw his arm around Lily and kissed the top of her head.

Oooo

They fell into a routine, the four would eat breakfast together, then Marlene and Lily would head to the library, and after about two hours James and Sirius would show up. Then Lily and James would probably start snogging and Marlene would find herself hanging out with Sirius.

The first few days were odd, Marlene wasn't used to being around Sirius this much, she also wasn't used to her best friend snogging James Potter, but what could you do?

"Marley, can we leave now?" Sirius asked, though his words were muffled as he was laying his head on one of the large books Marlene had needed to write her Potions essay. He looked across the table to see James and Lily sharing sickeningly sweet looks and lingering kisses, Lily blushing and giggling.

Marlene sighed, "Yeah, Merlin knows I won't get any real work done now." She couldn't help the glare she shot across the table, which was however lost on Lily.

Sirius picked up her book-bag and swung it over his shoulder, "Let's go!" Marlene ran after him.

They found themselves in the Entrance Hall staring at the massive front doors. "Let's go play in the snow." Sirius suggested.

Marlene looked doubtful, but before she could object Sirius picked her up and tossed her over his shoulders, not unlike how he had been carrying her book-bag earlier.

Kicking and screaming Marlene protested loudly, "Sirius! Put me down! I am NOT a sack of potatoes!"

Sirius just laughed. Finally she gave up and just hung there awkwardly, waiting for Sirius to put her down. They were outside and he still hadn't put her down yet, "Sirius, where are we going? Also, why can't I walk there myself?"

"Well, Marley, I'm pretty sure if I put you down you'd hightail it right back into the castle, that's why I'm still carrying you. As to where we're going, we're going nowhere, I just wanted to be outside." Sirius grinned.

Marlene pouted, she wanted down, she wanted to go into the castle where it was warm (if only slightly more so).

"Siiiiriiiius!" She whined.

"Maaarleeeeyyyyy!" Sirius whined back.

"Don't call me Marley!" She smacked his butt.

"Excuse me Missy! You're going to have to pay for that!" Sirius dropped her unceremoniously in a snow bank.

Marlene hit the cold snow with a shriek. She didn't even have time to adjust before a snowball pelted her in the back. She whirled around and saw Sirius grinning evilly while running for cover behind a tree.

"This is war Sirius!" Marlene proclaimed.

"Be prepared to die Marley! I won't go easy on you just cause you're a girl!" Sirius stuck his tongue out at her.

The snowball fight that ensued could only be described as epic. Soon the two were cheating and using magic to make their snowballs fly farther distances, and create huge balls of snow that would roll towards their opponent. Finally after a large snowball rolled into Sirius he collapsed eagle-spread in the snow.

"Marley, I surrender! You win," He admitted defeat.

Marlene ran up to him laughing, she lay down beside him, "I'm going to need a recording of that Sirius." She giggled.

"No, you can never tell anyone that you won, besides I would have won in the end, I just gave up and let you win." Marlene pouted, "It's called being a gentleman, Marley." He grinned at her while she laughed. "Besides I think after this, I'll win."

Before Marlene could even register his words and handful of snow was being shoved in her face. Sputtering and blinking the wet snow out of her eyes, she got up quickly to see Sirius running towards the castle.

"Sweet Merlin, Black I will kill you!" Marlene yelled as she chased after him.

Oooo

That night the four Gryffindor's were sitting by the fire in the common room, tomorrow was Christmas; none of them could contain their excitement. Lily retired early however, claiming she needed a good nights sleep, James left shortly after her. Marlene and Sirius remained sitting on the couches.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" Sirius asked yawning.

"Not yet, I'll Lily some time so she can pretend to be asleep." Marlene answered not thinking.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Christmas is always a hard time for Lily, because of her sister that is." Seeing Sirius's confused face she continued, "You see, once Lily was told she was a witch and went to Hogwarts her sister decided she was a freak. They used to be best friends, and now Lily's sister won't even speak to her anymore. She didn't go home this Christmas because Petunia's wedding is three days after Christmas. Lily was rudely told not to come. She's a bit broken up about it."

"Wow, I didn't know all that about her."

"She's a very private person, she'll be alright though, she just needs some space. I think having James will really help her, she won't be as angry anymore." Marlene managed to joke.

Sirius smiled at her. Marlene stared back into the fire, her thoughts taking over; _I could definitely be friends with Sirius,_ she thought happily.

"Sirius?" Marlene asked sleepily.

"Hmm."

"Can we be friends?"

"Aren't we already friends?" Sirius asked.

"Well we were kind of forced into it because of Lily and James, I just wanted to make sure. I mean, when everyone else gets back will we still be friends?" Marlene felt her cheeks burn.

"Of course, Marley." Sirius smiled and reached over to drag her closer to him.

"Don't call me that." She grumbled, even though she leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Marley was a human name before it was a dog's name, and now it's your name." Sirius smiled at her.

"I hate you."  
"That's not the way friends should act towards each other!" Sirius said appalled, "Take it back." He demanded.

"Oh alright then, I'm sorry Sirius, I don't hate you." Marlene laughed.

Sirius pulled the afghan off the back of the couch and draped it over them. "I'm too comfortable and sleepy to move." He explained.

Marlene nodded and yawned, "I agree. Merry Christmas Sirius."

"Merry Christmas Marley."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"Marlene McKinnon!" Came a shriek that woke the sleeping Marlene up. "Just you wait till the other girls hear about how you and Sirius Black fell asleep on the couch in the common room!" Lily was smirking triumphantly.

Marlene pushed herself away from Sirius and rubbed her eyes, _What made me stay here with him last night?_ She wondered idly.

"Never mind that now Lily, presents!" Marlene laughed. She shook Sirius and then ran to the huge Christmas tree that was taking up a corner of the Gryffindor tower. The girls tore through their presents quickly, Marlene got a lovely scarf and mitten set from her family, and a helpful study planner from Lily. Marlene smiled, even though she never got many presents, she loved Christmas all the same. Spending time with her friends and family made her feel warm inside.

The boys finally woke up and opened their own presents. Lily and James exchanged sweet gifts and spent the rest of the morning wrapped up in a blanket by the fire, which left Sirius and Marlene still sitting by the tree. Marlene thought it was magical, the sun was just starting to rise and snow was lightly falling. The lights on the tree twinkled and the faeries were dancing through the boughs.

"Marlene, I got you something." Sirius pulled out a small gold box with a red ribbon tied around it.

Marlene just stared at it, she didn't think Sirius would get her a present, she hadn't gotten him anything.

"Just take it," He said gruffly. Marlene fumbled with box as she pulled the ribbon, and gently ripped the paper off. When she opened the box she smiled at the gift. It was a small locket, with a dog etched onto the front of it, inside she saw that it was blank.

"Thank you Sirius, its lovely." She gave him a genuine smile; she hardly ever received gifts like this. Even if the whole dog motif was getting redundant, she appreciated the gesture all the same.

Sirius's cheeks turned pink, wait… Sirius Black was blushing.

"Sirius, I do believe you're blushing." Marlene pointed out.

"I most certainly am not!" Sirius tried to hide his face from turning redder.

Marlene laughed, "Don't worry, I'll keep your secret. But I didn't get you a Christmas gift." Marlene frowned, not a good way to start off a friendship.

"S'okay."

"No its not. We established last night that we are friends, and friends give each other gifts at Christmas time." Marlene was thinking hard. "Don't worry Sirius, I'll find you the perfect gift." She smiled confidently.

Oooo

Marlene wasn't exactly sure how, but she found herself alone with James in the common room later that afternoon, Sirius had disappeared to who knows where, and she was pretty sure Lily had gone to the owlry to send a letter to her parents.

"James, what did you get Sirius for Christmas?"

"Uhhh, dungbombs and some sugar quills." James answered, "Why are you wondering what I got Sirius for Christmas?"

"Well, he got me a gift, and I didn't even think to get him anything. And I realized that I really want to get him something special. I just have no idea what I should give him." Marlene explained.

"Can I see what he got you?" James asked. Marlene pulled the locket out from under her sweater; she had been wearing it all day. "Ah, so he did pluck up the courage to give you the locket." James mused. "He found that in some little shop in Hogsmeade and decided it was the perfect gift for you. But he started rethinking giving you the locket, I guess he was afraid you'd freak out at him for getting you something." He explained.

Marlene couldn't help but smile at the actual sincerity behind the locket, it wasn't just some joke.

"So can you help me think of what to give him?" Marlene asked again.

James grinned, Marlene could swear that each Marauder (minus Peter) had that exact same grin, and it meant trouble. "Well Marley, here's a little secret I'm going to let you in on."

Oooo

Marlene walked purposefully down the corridor, following the directions James had given her; she stopped when she got the spot where James and Sirius had ambushed her and Lily weeks before. She finally spotted a large door with a brass doorknob that she had never seen before (it was different then the one that James had dragged Lily into) James had explained this was the Come-And-Go Room or the Room of Requirement. She pushed open the door and smiled when she saw Sirius sitting on a sofa reading a book in front of a blazing fire.

"Hey you." Marlene greeted as she sat down beside him, almost close enough to let their legs touch.

"Oh, hey Marlene."

Marlene let her jaw drop, "You have never once called me Marlene before."

"Well, you don't seem to like it much when I call you Marley, so I figured maybe you'd appreciate it if I called you Marlene instead." Sirius explained, his eyes not leaving the page of the book.

Marlene watched him with scrutiny, "What's that suppose to mean?" She asked blatantly.

"I mean, maybe you'll take me more seriously if I stop calling you by that stupid nickname." Sirius said, his eyes finally meeting hers. His grey eyes bore into her, Marlene felt like now she was the one being analyzed.

She sighed, "Sirius, I'm taking you seriously whether you call me Marlene or Marley." She gave him a quick smile.

Sirius shook his head, "No you're not. You still think of me as your best friend's boyfriend's annoying friend who you are forced to hang out with." He blew his breath out forcing his long hair out of his eyes.

Marlene realized how vulnerable he must have been feeling, she realized the magnitude of what James had told her, he wasn't lying or trying to pull a prank, he had meant it.

"Sirius, what do you want for Christmas from me?" Marlene asked, leaning just a bit closer.

He gulped, "Nothing, I don't want anything from you."

She smiled, "I think otherwise," Marlene closed the gap between them with her mouth, and she pushed her lips against his.

She hadn't been expecting the kiss to really lead anywhere, she had half expected Sirius to pull away from her is disgust. But he kissed her back, and he wrapped his arms around her, and his tongue stroked her bottom lip, and Marlene parted her lips.

When the kiss ended, Sirius leaned his forehead against hers, "Merry Christmas Sirius." Marlene smiled.

"Thank you Marley." Sirius kissed her lightly once more.


End file.
